pip.^o.iof INVESTIGATIONS AT FORT STEVENSON — SMITH 173 



when the region at the mouth of the Laramie River was the site of 

 major fur posts. The direct connection of the adobe-brick architec- 

 tural tradition at that place with that of the Southwest is revealed 

 by the fact that Southwestern labor is said to have been employed in 

 making and using adobes at least as early as 1841, in building Fort 

 John, which in 1849 became the military Fort Laramjie (Hafen and 

 Young, 1938, p. 83, quoting Jolm C. Fremont). In the case of both 

 fur-trade structures and private buildings of the military period at 

 Fort Laramie, such as the sutler's store, adobe bricks were used in 

 true masonry. This was also the case with certain of the lesser mili- 

 tary buildings, such as the sets of officers' quarters on the west side 

 of the parade ground. In the case of "Old Bedlam," an officers' 

 quarters at Fort Laramie begun in 1849, adobe brick were also used, 

 but only as packing between the timbers of the frame, probably to 

 serve as insulation. 



The general history of architecture of western military posts of 

 the 19th century has apparently not yet been given special study. 

 It is known that the original construction at Fort Buford, a military 

 post established in 1866 near the older Fort Union of the fur trade, 

 was also of adobe-brick masonry, and by 1871 efforts had been made 

 to replace the adobe brick. As late as 1875, however, numerous orig- 

 inal buildings of this style were still in use at Fort Buford (Mattison, 

 1955, p. 61). Though there appears to be a general tradition of 

 the use of adobe brick at these posts in the late 1860's, the details 

 are obscure. The use of such materials in the construction of Fort 

 Stevenson may, however, be related directly to a tradition estab- 

 lished on the upper Missouri itself during the preceding period of 

 the fur trade. 



Although trading posts on the upper Missouri, as elsewhere outside 

 the Southwest, were primarily timber structures (whether or not 

 palisaded), adobe mud and doubtless occasionally even adobe brick 

 were also employed. It has been stated that the few trading posts 

 built of adobe were the exception, timber construction having been 

 the most typical in the western United States (Qiittenden, 1954, vol. 

 1, p. 45). Some evidence on the matter is available for the portions 

 of the upper Missouri in question. 



The earlier trading posts of Fort Berthold (ca. 1845 ff.) and its 

 competitor Fort Atkinson (ca. 1858 ff., subsequently known as Fort 

 Berthold; both a part of 32ML2) were timber structures, as were 

 Fort Clark (1831 ff.), Fort Union (1828 ff.), and the still earlier post 

 of James Kipp (32MN1), at the mouth of the White Earth Eiver 

 (1826 ff.). So also was Fort Mandan, in which Lewis and Clark had 

 wintered in 1804-5 with the Mandan Indians. Test excavations at 

 the site of Kipp's post made in October 1951, by the Missouri Basin 

 Project demonstrated that this post had been enclosed with a stockade, 



